Sunday, January 18, 2009

P.F. Chang's Rock 'N' Roll Arizona

I didn't want to miss the game, so I decided not to run.






Really? In the age of DVR's? I ran.






I ran for a Personal Record. I got a shiny medal.

I wear my TnT shirt for all the RnR AZ races. This shot was taken with my camera phone.

2:27:23 (2:25:21 Garmin time).
18 seconds better than my best.

The 2 minute and 2 second difference was due to visiting with my wife and kids at the 10 mile mark and a short potty break. My garmin stops when I stop.

The day started off at 7 am with me meeting friends at the shuttle stop. Karen, Lisa, Candice, Caroline, Mary (Denver), Christina and I loaded up on a old school bus to head toward downtown Phoenix. The emergency alarm was going off for most of the trip.


We got down to the start and I got to meet Eileen and her dad. He came out from Boston. Then we all went our separte ways to the various corrals. Candice and I started in 16 and about 30 minutes after the first group took off. The leaders were probably close to half way at that point.


Candice and I stayed together for the first 5k, then as I took a quick walk break she moved on. Not to be seen again. She ran a great first half marathon and beat me by 5 minutes. Below are my splits. Not counting the 2 minutes of non movement. My best mile split was 10:15, my worse was 11:48. Usually I throw in a couple 12's or 13's, but not today. I ran 94% of the race, with only 12 minutes of walking .78 miles.



10 Things I liked about today
1. The weather was great. Cool to begin and I didn't think it got to hot at the end.
2. Lots of friends. I even saw Geri from softball. But, I missed CJ.
3. My last 3.1 miles were progressively negative splits.
4. I PR'd
5. all the Team In Training fans.
6. Seeing my family at the 10 mile mark.
7. Completed my 9th half marathon.
8. I wanted to average 11 minute miles and ended up with 10:58 (not counting the pit stop).
9. Feeling pretty good six hours later.
10. The Cardinals game was awesome and they are going to the Super Bowl.

16 comments:

desert trail runner said...

Sweet Pat, just friggin sweet! I didn't know you PR'd!!! Proud of ya mate!

Cardinals, WOW! (Can't get our nine year old to shut up about it!)

Now to get the Coyotes to win tonight would just be a great topper to the day!

Thanks for another great report! Next year, I am running the FULL!!!

TNTcoach Ken said...

Oh how I wish I had gone with Sandy. It must be a great day in the state of Arizona. Super Bowl and a PR, does it get any better?

SuperDave said...

Congrats Pat!
One of these days I'm getting out there and going to run that race!
PR's are always fun especially when you break one of those nice round number PR's(11 min pace).
Wow on the Cardinals! I love Kurt Warner!
BTW did you notice that you beat your 10K PR during the race?
I bet it was nice to have your family aty the 10 mile point. That's the do or die point.
Congrats again!

J~Mom said...

Congratulations Pat!!! You ran a great race! I will work on my pacing so that I can run with you next year!!

Irene said...

It sounds like the perfect day!

Congratulations on the new PR (was there ever any doubt?) AND congratulations to your Cardinals. I'm rooting for the Cardinals, all the way!

Unknown said...

Great job with the PR! It looks like everyone had a great day at the race.

Go Cardinals!!

CJ Miller said...

I had a great day as well, just sorry to have missed meeting up with you after the run! What a crowd, it would be hard to find anyone in it! Glad you did well, I too PR'd for the 1/2 at 2:28, which was a big surprise with ailments leading up to the race. Weather was perfect for running... !

Glenn Jones said...

Congrats on the PR Pat! Lots of people I know went over from Southern California too. They all are reporting back a great race and great conditions!

Katie said...

Great job!!

Greg said...

Way to go, Pat! John Bingham sent a message on Twitter at the time saying there were 30 THOUSAND people running this year. Holy cow! Glad to hear you were smack in the middle AND PR'ed. You deserve to be proud.

Nat said...

Holy crap 30,000 runners. That is a lot of people.

Congrats on a new PB...

RooBabs said...

Great job, Pat!! A PR? That is so cool!! I sort of PR'd, but that's just because it was my first, ha ha. By the way, I am totally jealous of your medal- it's way better than mine. But then again, my race only cost $36 so I can't expect too much, right?

That's very cool about the Cardinals, too. I was wondering on Sunday if you were a fan or not. The Hubs and I were hanging out in Vegas cheering them on. And even though we like the Steelers, too, we're both rooting for the Cardinals in the Superbowl.

I'll be emailing you my challenge info... = )

The Boring Runner said...

Congrats! A PR is awesome.

By the way, you DID totally fake me out with saying that you didn't race to watch the game!

E said...

Congrats on your PR and a great race!

Jeff said...

That's awesome, Pat. Congrats on a darn near perfect day.

Dan Seifring aka "OBRATS" said...

Way to go on the PR Pat.

Go Cards.